The average incubation period is around two to nine weeks.

Some people don’t develop any symptoms; others experience fatigue, fever, dark urine, or yellowing of the skin or eyes.

A blood sample can be tested for antibodies to hepatitis E. If someone has a weak immune system (e.g. someone living with HIV, or a transplant patient), then a PCR test for viral RNA can also be used to test a blood or stool sample.

Currently, there is no recognised, or approved, treatment for acute or chronic hepatitis E. In small, experimental studies, chronic hepatitis E has been successfully treated with ribavirin. These data are being further examined.